


Pink Blossoms & Dandy Lions

by booabug (allthisink)



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: (literally), Aged-Up Character(s), Chat Noir.exe has stopped working, F/M, Flowers, Fluff, Language of Flowers, Marichat May, friends to ???
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-18
Updated: 2017-05-18
Packaged: 2018-11-02 03:56:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10936494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allthisink/pseuds/booabug
Summary: A chance encounter between Marinette and Chat Noir in the park during Spring, a time for blooming, change, and new beginnings. Sometimes it's just by chance and whim that you stop and appreciate something that's been there all along.Cherry blossom petals from the flowers she had been gathering floated on the wind down and around him, delicate pink against stark black. Some nearly disappeared in his golden hair, while others settled on his shoulders. The last of the petals obscuring his figure were swept out of sight by a small gust of warm spring breeze that made both his and her hair sway with it's passing."Chat Noir!" She breathed.It could have been a very charming scene, something right of Chat's extensive manga library, if she hadn't hit him in the face and stomped on his foot.One shot for Marichat May, Day 16: Flowers.





	Pink Blossoms & Dandy Lions

**Author's Note:**

> Large part of the ~~blame~~ ~~credit~~ blame (no, actually I feel so blessed ; u;) goes to [australet789](http://australet789.tumblr.com/) and their posts for this, most specifically for [the bell thing](http://australet789.tumblr.com/post/160511559990/marichat-may-day-9-bell-collar-sorry-this-is-very) which I love and have fully accepted as headcanon.
> 
> If you'd like some mood music, may I suggest this electro swing cover of [Tiger Rag, by the Dirty Honkers](https://soundcloud.com/dirty-honkers/tiger-rag)?
> 
> Crossposted on [Tumblr](http://booabug.tumblr.com/post/160799105243/)

"Whatcha doing?"

Marinette squealed and flailed, nearly slipping on the dewy petals and grass, tree bark scraping her knuckles. The flowers she had been holding exploded into the air.

Over the sound of her spiking pulse pounding in her ears, and the sudden coolness where muttered words warmed her neck a bare moment ago, she just registered her hand colliding with someone who went, "Augh!" over their nose _(she has, sadly, accidentally backhanded people enough to know exactly what she smacked)_ then an "Oomph!" when she stepped on a foot in her haste to whirl around and scurry back to get a good look at whoever it was who surprised her.

What she saw was Chat Noir, still stooped over to what would be head height with her. Cherry blossom petals from the flowers she had been gathering floated on the wind down and around him, delicate pink against stark black. Some nearly disappeared in his golden hair, while others settled on his shoulders. The last of the petals obscuring his figure were swept out of sight by a small gust of warm spring breeze that made both his and her hair sway with it's passing.

"Chat Noir!" She breathed.

It could have been a very charming scene, something right of Chat's extensive manga library, if she hadn't hit him in the face and stomped on his foot.

He was regarding her with the indignant, hurt, and wary look of a pet whose paw was just stepped on while they were sidling up too close to their oblivious human. Which, she supposed, was exactly what happened. He held a boot in one hand, stroking it with the other. Marinette's chest heaved and she clutched at her heart. "You scared me!"

"I didn't mean to," he pouted. "Do you always react that strongly, or only to shockingly handsome superheroes who make your heart race?"

He cocked his head to the side and winked, expression going from pout to grin in a flash. She sighed with a little smile and approached to brush her fingertips down the ridges in his boot's steel upper sole. He withdrew his hands from his foot and slowly let it back down to the grass with the motion of her touch. "I would be lucky if my clumsiness only effected a very oddly specific group of people. I couldn't have actually hurt you, did I?"

"Uh, no. Not at all," Chat's cavalier tone faltering just a moment, "It's more the shock than anything. I'm not used to being hit by pretty girls, you know. Now being hit _on,_ that's another matter."

"Pfft, I'm sure," Marinetted snickered. Chat's grin only widened, especially as she looked him over.

"Like what you see?"

Marinette put her face in one hand. "Mentally, you haven't aged at all."

"Are you dodging the question? How cute," he cooed, raising his palms. "No need to be shy. It's a matter of public knowledge I have done the impossible and exceeded my previous levels of irresistible animal magnetism. Here, I'll start."

He cleared his throat and closed his eyes, head shaking theatrically as he drawled, "My dear Marinette, you have never stopped to grow more lovely in all the time since we first met. Your turr... n."

When he opened his eyes, Marinette was much closer, a slight frown on her face. "Marin- Marinette? Princess?"

Neither her name nor nickname snapped her out of her single-minded approach. Chat gulped. The animal magnetism thing was just a joke 'cause, you know... Cat. What was happening? He had just wanted to know what she was picking up flowers for, say hi, maybe tease her a bit. This was not going according to keikaku at all. _(T/N: keikaku means plan)_

"Hold still," Marinette demanded when Chat suddenly stood ramrod straight at her touch, arms falling to his sides, as she started brushing the petals off his shoulders. Now she had to look up and around to find each one that had stuck to him. Stupid tall, broad shouldered partner.

Said stupid tall, broad shouldered partner was feeling very stupid indeed, mind blank except to concentrate on holding very still. He was left with nothing to do but stare down at her. Sunlight filtered through the branches, casting eccentric spotlights down on her. The light reflected in her focused eyes, only darker where her eyelashes made shadows. He thought of faraway beaches people saved and longed for, pure of pollution, all sun and blue, blue water. Where the heat made their skin striking pink, though she managed to exhibit the same shade without any such help in her full lips where just the tip of her tongue stuck out. An involuntary smile crept lopsided up his own lips over that. He found himself counting the freckles strewn across the bridge of her nose.

She looked up and caught his gaze. His breath hitched. She raised his brows at him. He felt himself heat up, willed himself to say something, anything. Finally managing to open his mouth, Chat instead squeaked as Marinette huffed and tugged down on his collar's bell before he could speak. "Come on, head down, you still have petals in your hair."

"Ohhh. Okay then," he rested his hands behind his back and bowed his head dutifully and she, in turn, brushed the petals out of his soft blonde hair dutifully. She managed to make sure and get each one out, running her hands deep into his unruly mane to be sure, despite the way he'd started headbutting her hand whenever it pulled away for too long some time along the way. Marinette smiled softly and shook her head a little, recognizing the behaviour and the relaxation settling into his very bones as the pattern that inevitably led to his rumbling purr. Honestly, this kitten.

She knew Chat was no angel, but she liked to think he didn't go around letting random girls scratch his head. Not that it was her exclusive right as her partner, she supposed, but she liked to think he'd only have Ladybug— wait. She wasn't his partner right now. She wasn't Ladybug right now. She wasn't wearing her Ladybug colours and spots. She was, by all appearances, just ordinary girl with an ordinary life Marinette, and Marinette was not Chat Noir's partner, Ladybug. Marinette was barely friends with Chat Noir, and definitely did not brush his shoulders and head for him whenever she felt like it.

She drew back immediately. Chat almost fell forward following her hands. He looked at her. She looked at him. They both looked very, very red.

"I—" He choked out smoothly, drawing into himself.

"Uh—" She frantically wrung her hands with great grace, shoulders drawing up to her ears.

"-kinda act like a cat sometimes, side effect of-"

"-am so sorry, I'm just really task oriented and detail oriented and sometimes I get lost in-"

"-guess the stealthiness backfired on me here?"

"-hope it wasn't weird?"

The two were looking at each other across a very short distance with the same fearful wince. Both blinked a few times in anticipation, before realizing the other had said something they didn't hear at all. They uncoiled by minute degrees, with each moment the other didn't call them out for being a total weirdo.

Left devoid of conversation or anything to do, they darted their eyes around everywhere but each other's— except for when they did— then they would break their gaze to continue their surveying the very fascinating park of trees, and grass, and more grass, and trees.... there was quite a bit of grass too. Very nice, very... grassy.

Chat began whistling casually just to break the silence. He still wasn't looking at her, but he caught her attention, as did a vague memory that got her bobbing her head. The movement got him looking, and he started bobbing his head in time as well. It didn't take long for him to start swaying and whistle more jauntily. Then he started to do the running man. Marinette burst into laughter, Chat chuckling shortly after. Chuckling became laughter became a guffaw. Feeding off each other's laughter, they found themselves doubled over with laughter at nothing in particular.

Chat plopped down onto the petals and grass, wiping tears from his eyes with a sigh as the laughter subsided. Fresh spring air filled his lungs, his breathing regulating again. Marinette sat down beside him, settling her weight on the thigh of one of her legs as she leaned, propping herself up on one arm. She was caught in Chat's gaze again. He grinned as he leaned back on both hands, and crossed one leg to rest the ankle on his other knee.

People spoke of moments you never wanted to end, ones you wished you could live in forever. She's had the good fortune to have many such moments, though she couldn't really describe any in detail. Mostly, it was just the feeling and who she was with that she remembered. Though this was the first with her as Marinette, he dominated those memories. Sprawled out, dramatically posed, or simply at rest, but always with a contagious smile on his face and a glint in his eyes. Many times, like now, flush from laughter. Like she was now, thanks to him. She looked away to patch of dandelions by her knees, and picked one fluffy with seeds ready to be carried away. "What?"

"Nothing."

"I can tell you're thinking something."

"Just... thinking about the situation I've found myself in."

"That's all?" She rolled the stem of the flower between her thumb and forefinger.

"Alright, alright..." The tone of his lowered voice made her look up. His expression was one of the heavy hearted in the confessional. "Are you going to take care of my butt too?"

"Chaaat," she groaned.

"There's bound to be petals on it. It's a valid question. Are you going to make sure to get every one this time as well? I don't make a habit of letting people inspect my fine derrière, but if you insist, I can make an excep- hey!" She had leaned in to blow the dandelion fluff into his face. He'd instinctively lifted a hand to block them, which he put to task picking another dandelion now to retaliate.

She wrinkled her nose, eyes closing at the seeds blown into her own face now. "What are you, five?" She said, even as she plucked another dandelion.

"You started it!" He said, batting at the fluff blown at him.

"You are so five years old," she punctuated her statement with another puff, freeing the last of the seeds from the flower in her hand.

"I am not!" Chat said, catching some fluff from the air. He held it by the seed and regarded it. "Allow me to express the depth of my maturity. Existing impressions can be very deceiving. Consider, for example, the dandelion: gardeners call it a weed, and think of it as a pest. Yet observe how it is shaken as the other end pulled is pulled, and how it unerringly rights itself every time it is bent by the wind. It's only a breeze to us, but a buffeting gale to it. It's noble, really. I would be proud to liken myself to it, to say that I... I am a dandy lion."

"A dandy lion."

"A dandy lion!," Chat puffed out his chest, buffing the claws of his gloves on it. "I am the most gentlemanly and leonine of-"

"So, nine years old?" Marinette smirked.

" _Leo_ nine," Chat emphasized, turning his head away from her, closing his eyes, raising his head with all the dignitas he could muster. She had to admit, he could muster a surprisingly dignified expression. With the sun in his unruly blonde hair and otherwise invisible stubble against his skin, he really did resemble a lion. A little. Maybe. A small one? Like, a lion cub. ... No, she just couldn't take him seriously right now. Or most of the time. He peeked one eye open at her from his imperious countenance.

Marinette giggled, imagining he had read her mind and taken offense. He said, "You never did answer my question, by the way."

"No, Chat," Marinette rolled her eyes smiling. "I am not going to stare at your butt or peel petals off of it for you."

"That's not what I meant, but I'm frankly very hurt you're so against the idea," Chat faced her again. "I'll have you know it is firmly all for being lavished with your attention. As well as simply being firm."

She heaved a long, world weary sigh.

"That aside, I meant what you were doing before I surprised you. Then you surprised me, then things got awkward, et cetera..."

"Well, before you snuck up on me," she said with a pointed look to cut off his interjection, "I was picking the flowers that fell from the cherry blossom trees off the ground. I was trying to find as many dry ones without too many petals missing already as I could."

"Huh." Chat looked up at the branches of the trees above them. They were still in full bloom, thick with clusters of flowers, a dozen or more in each and all full with petals. "Why not pick them off the trees? No one will miss them and you'd just have to get a few stems instead of looking all day."

"I don't know, it seems like such a shame when they're alive. I kind of don't really like cut flowers for the same reason. Not that I don't appreciate a nice bouquet. Anyway, the ones that have fallen are every bit as beautiful, but people will only step on them. I thought maybe I'd take some home so they'd be appreciated a bit longer, at least." She began to pick through the ones in arm's reach. When no response came, she continued, "I know it's pretty silly, they'll just wilt by tomorrow even if I get the freshest ones. Still... It was fun. Like when I was a kid, and I'd get bored and look for a clover patch to find four leaf clovers in.

"You did that?" She could hear the smile in his voice. She hummed a yes. "Did you pick them too?"

"I would at first, but then I realized I'd always just lose them or they'd get bruised or something and I'd get all sad over it, so I stopped. I still looked for them for a while, but I'd leave them to grow. I felt lucky just finding one, get all excited... That's the part that really mattered, I guess. You know what I mean?"

"I think I do," he said slowly, gently.

She looked up. His wide grin and the glint of mischief in his eyes had none of it's usual edge. "Yeah."

Marinette looked back down at the blossoms she had gathered in her hand. "... Actually, do you know if pollinators use these?"

"What, the cherry tree flowers?"

"Yeah. That's one reason I thought I should leave them alone but they don't really seem to, well... have pollen. Or nectar. I don't know much about what exactly bees and butterflies and stuff do."

"Well, if you wanted to know about the birds and the bees, Princess..."

"You're such a dork," Marinette raised a hand to her face and shook her head. "Please don't."

Much to her surprise, he actually did keep quiet. She looked over her hand to see Chat biting his lip. He looked fit to burst with all the jokes he was suppressing. She had to smile. Protecting her from his own onslaught of terrible jokes might be the most gallant thing he could do.

"Okay, you get one. Your tamest punchline."

"... They're disappearing at an alarming rate."

They burst into a short fit of giggles together.

He stood and Marinette found herself looking up past Chat Noir's offered hand into in her partner's familiar face, and a soft expression that was just as familiar, yet the two still oddly incongruous. She tried to make sense of it as she let him take her hand, but the sensation of his warm, firm grip overtook any fleeting thoughts that came. He helped her up, more gently than with Ladybug mid-battle, but he had to pull with a jolt nonetheless. Any question in her mind fell away with the flowers from her hand as she bumped into him. She pushed off lightly against his chest. Her other hand was still in his grip, and she felt him squeezing her shoulder too, both light enough that she could back away if she wanted. She didn't.

After a moment's silence, Chat asked, "Did you still want flowers? I'll help, I still have to make up for before."

Marinette shook her head and glanced at the sky. "It's alright, it was just a spur of the moment thing, for fun. Besides, the sun's starting to go down."

"Ah," Chat said, looking up. He sighed. "You're right. I should really get going."

"Me too."

"This was nice."

"Yeah, it was."

"Can I walk you home?"

"That might look a bit weird."

"We could take the rooftops."

"Even weirder."

"... You want to come over to my place for a cup of coffee, or... ?"

She snorted as he waggled his brows. Marinette was about to flick his nose for that, when she thought twice and smirked, pressing just the fingertips of her hand on his chest a little harder. Chat stopped waggling his brows, eyes going wide, confirming her suspicion. Kitty could dish it out, but he couldn't take it.

Maintaining eye contact, Marinette slowly slipped her other hand from Chat's grip and began to drag it up his arm. She felt the tips of the claws on the tops of her fingers as they left his palm, his hand having clenched just as slowly along the way to keep contact. As her hand reached his bicep, the hand on his chest began to make it's way to his waist just as languidly. She moved her face a little closer. He didn't move back. She watched for the slightest shake of his head, any shift in his watchful expression, but he just looked back wide eyed and breathing shallow.

One hand firmly on his hip, the other still sliding up from his shoulder to the side of his neck, she started to lean up, breaking eye contact to move in to one side of his head. He leaned down at the same time she leaned up, steadying herself on his hip. She cupped his jaw, thumb rubbing against the slight roughness of the beginnings of a beard no one else saw, their little secret. Her mouth moved to his ear. As aware as she was of her own blush, she swore she could feel the heat coming off his face. She licked her lips. He swallowed hard.

"I'd like it better if you came over to my place," she purred, before kissing him on the cheek and walking away quickly, his hand on her shoulder leaving a searing impression as she left it's reach.

She thought she heard him make some clipped, unintelligible noise as she turned away.

After about a block, she remembered how stealthy he could be and looked back. Chat Noir had not followed her. He was still exactly where she left him, frozen in place, arms slack at his sides. He must have felt her staring and turned to look back as if with effort. Marinette quickly turned away again and put her hands on her cheeks, partially to keep from laughing out loud, partially to hide the blush she could feel even on her heated palms. She still couldn't help but giggle, smile on her face so wide it hurt.  


* * *

  
She couldn't help but wonder if she had overdone it. There wasn't any reason Marinette would have crossed paths with Chat again untransformed, but she'd felt his absence over the last few days anyway. It all just seemed like teasing fun at the time, but... There was something about the way he had looked at her that put a weight in her chest. Maybe the universe itself had counted up her sins and decided to punish her accordingly. She'd been seeing Adrien more lately, which was thrilling, was he actually seeking her out? Oh, she could only hope. The thing was, it also felt like he was avoiding her at the same time? Their encounters were always brief, with him excusing himself first. He'd always been busy, and they never spent time together for long now that they had graduated and attended different universities, but the awkward factor in their interactions was no longer solely on her shoulders. If she was being honest with herself, Marinette was actually used to overthinking things with Adrien by now and resigned to all the emotional turmoil that came with it. With Chat, her worry weighed down on her.

That was, until she climbed up to her terrace one morning to find every square centimeter of surface taken up by pots of pink hyacinths. Small ones squeezed between her existing potted plants. One humongous pot lay in her beach chair with sunglasses on. A bouquet of flowers on the table towered over the surrounding hyacinths. It wasn't potted, but even that was in a vase. A beautiful mix of dark orange roses, deep purple hydrangeas, and verdant green ferns arranged with care and crying for attention. A stuffed pink envelope fluttered in the wind, tied to the cord that held up her tarp and baubles with red thread. It was conveniently placed so she could reach it without risking breaking any of the hyacinths. Or her neck. Simply signed in green ink, 

 

> ** >:3c **

Laughter bubbled up in Marinette's chest, both out of relief and at the sheer absurdity of everything. To think she worried about being the one to overdo things where Chat Noir, Paris' living personification of _extra_ , was involved. She carefully undid the seal on the envelope.

Placed first was a card written on in steady, practiced cursive. Another card was in the back sandwiched the folded pages of paper that made up the bulk of the contents— just how much did he write? 

  

 

> _Mi mosa_ dear Marinette,
> 
> I must apologize _fleur-lis_ -ly for _daffodil_ ly-dallying about these past few days. _Iris_ k to hope that you understand some _peony_  response simply could not do. I like to think I _rose_  to the occasion. As well, in the interest of maintaining all safety and secrecy, I've been working for the in _carnation_ of some way we can corres _frond_. I'd hate for our rapport to be some _larkspur_ thing. Thus, you may _leaf_ something for me, by name, at the nursery that gave these _babys breath_ , so to speak. The business card may _poppy_  up if you look under one of these pots. Or two, or twelve, or thirty...
> 
> _Forget-me-not_ ,  
>  Your _Dandy Lion_.
> 
> PS to make up for my a _pollen_ absence these past few days, don't forget the pages that come _nextar  
>  _

 

Marinette had a bad feeling about this. She unfolded the papers. She scanned the contents of the first with disbelief, then went to the next page, only to notice the first had more on the back. Five pages, double sided, in 11pt Comic Sans MS, of jokes, puns, and turns of phrase about the birds the and the bees, both in the figurative and literal sense, sometimes intertwined with actual information like what Colony Collapse Disorder was... and why it was the _thrust_  of his argument against neonic pesticides.

She threw her head back and groaned aloud. She prayed, most likely in vain, she knew, but prayed nonetheless, that the last card wouldn't have a single bit of bad wordplay.

   

 

> You never fail to surprise me. Your move, Princess. 

 

She smiled and sighed, tension she didn't even realize had accumulated melting from her shoulders. Then she noticed the fine print.

  

 

> I will be waiting _impatiens_ ly. >:3c

 

Her face dropped. That no good cat.

**Author's Note:**

> Floriography used:
> 
>  **Cherry Blossoms** are most well known for symbolizing transience, and a strong part of Japanese culture such as hanami viewings are about appreciating them when they appear. They also stand for feminine power.  
>  **Dandelions** stand for simple joys, perseverance through obstacles, connotations regarding the sun such as warmth, and new beginnings.  
>  **Pink Hyacinths** symbolize games, playfulness, and sport in Victorian tradition. Apparently, in witch-lore, it also represents joy, happiness, love, and protection; I could only find this in two sources, albeit in a quick search, so I'm a bit dubious, but I'll note it anyway since it fits as well.  
> (All of the above are Spring bloomers.)  
>  **Orange Roses,** being a cross between yellow (friendship) and red (love), means enthusiasm, desire, and fascination.  
>  **Ferns** are a common filler for bouquets, and represent fascination too, as well as magic, confidence, safe shelter, discretion, reverie, and a secret bond of love. Given the other meanings, I think confidence means the trust to confide in one another as opposed to surety in oneself. As for the last thing, Marinette and Chat think they're passing friends in those alter egos, but of course, there's been a secret bond of platonic love all along.  
>  **Hydrangea** meaning is all over the place. It seems it's been given different connotations in several different cultures. Anyway, I included it because of gratitude for understanding, heartfelt sincerity, and desire to know someone deeply.  
> Oooone more thing:  
> In East Asian culture, the **red string** is an invisible tie between people destined to be lovers despite any obstacles. Here, it was subconscious or coincidental on Adrien's part, but I liked the idea of throwing that in where he and Mari are concerned. After all, they do have the huge obstacle on accidentally blocking themselves off from their crushes with their alter egos. The poor goofs.


End file.
